It’s a hugely exciting time for the new-folk crowd. In the past week it has been announced that London-based Wilkommen Collective act The Leisure Society has been nominated for an Ivor Novello award for their song The Last of the Melting Snow, released last Christmas.
Single Review: The Dø – At Last
The Dø (pronounced ‘dough’) are a kooky French/Finnish duo. Having topped the charts in France they are setting out to conquer the rest of the world. They’ve been described in France as “PJ Harvey on the moon” which paints a slightly weird, but accurate, picture.
Album Review: The Boy Least Likely To – Law of the Playground
The Buckinghamshire-based country disco band finally returns after four years of absence due to record label woes. When the first track kicks in, those years suddenly seem so short, and this LP feels seamlessly intertwined with their debut. Although the thirteen snappy tracks which populate the two-piece’s album offer innocent melancholy, you get the sneaking suspicion that they had as much fun making the record as you will listening to it.
Album Review: Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career
Camera Obscura don’t have it as easy as you think people who make beautiful folk pop music might. Firstly, there’s the problem of a second band named Camera Obscura. Granted the other lot are a load of rubbish, but there must be a limit to how many times they can tolerate saying “no, we are the other Camera Obscura” when someone asks why everyone speaks in such high terms about something that sounds like a cheese grater running against your brain. Then there is trying to step out of the shadow of fellow Scots and occasional producer of tracks Belle and Sebastian. The comparison is both a compliment and entirely warranted in their early work. But both have diverted away from that twee Scotpop sound of the late 1990s and have embraced different influences.
Album Review: Bonnie Prince Billy – Beware
He has an interesting head, does Will Oldham, aka the Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy. Both outside – a bulging bald crown surrounded by burgeoning red hairs that stream down around his chin and probably beyond – and inside. Yes, he has a tricky mind. Elusive even.
Album Review: Sons of Noel and Adrian
A lot of artists make it onto this website. Despite its obvious folk leanings, indie, electro, a bit of soft rock, shoe gaze and progressive have all featured, championing For Folk’s Sake as a warm welcoming bosom onto which all genres, assuming they’re suitably relaxed and earthy, may lay their head. But make no mistake, Sons of Noel and Adrian is folk to the core.